About Colyer

Colyer London’s mission is to provide creative solutions to creative people through carefully and ethically thought out products and services; from comprehensive graphic and office supplies, colour accurate printing devices through to Mac & digital infrastructure support; Colyer London provides everything your company needs to keep itself, well, creative. They share their building with partner company, MJCP, specialists in large-format printing.

Colyer London’s commitment is to ensure the highest possible service while doing their bit to clean up London. They are doing everything they can to minimise their impact on the environment and be part of the solution for a cleaner city, or as they put it: “we are what we breathe”.

Reducing their carbon footprint

A significant part of Colyer London’s carbon footprint is the delivery of goods to their clients.

They now own three electric vans zipping across the streets of London making deliveries, and are the only supply company in London to own an electric-only fleet. The switch proved to be only marginally more expensive than buying new diesel vans, however, the running costs greatly outweigh the upfront extra expense of the EVs. They installed three charging points in their premises, so the vehicles can be easily recharged every evening, ready for the next full day of deliveries. The bright pink vans are fitted with smart tracking systems so drivers can optimise the charge and ensure effective use of energy. The drive time between top-up charges is more than sufficient to last the whole working day.

Colyer London is ISO14001 Environmental Standard compliant and as a result, has put in place strict actions to follow the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) regulations for recycling. Their environment management policy ensures the environment is considered at every step of the production process, from client brief to delivery.

They ensure that materials are easy to recycle on the client side, as well as providing clients with recycling bins and free recycling collection. They use recycled paper and substrates whenever possible, re-use paper for notepads, recycle toners, batteries and ink cartridges and promote their wide range of environmentally friendly graphic and office products.

Key achievements

In addition to saving a significant amount of money on fuel (approx £2,338 per vehicle/per annum), they are also saving approx £800 per vehicle in servicing costs per annum on fleet maintenance. Overall, they are saving a total of £9,414 a year on their fleet.

In the last 12 months, they recycled 7,662KGs of waste across Colyer London and MJCP. This means that they recycle 67% of all waste; saving 87 trees from beheading, and 11 tonnes of C02 from being released. Colyer London has also been able to convert 3,831KGs of waste to energy, generating 2091KWH.

What have they learnt?

What makes a company ecologically sound is a well-thought-out sustainability strategy, designed collectively and implemented at all levels, from the customer service team to the delivery drivers and all those in between. Hiring like-minded people and getting employee buy-in is the first foot in the door to deploying a truly environmentally sound strategy.

Colyer London and the CCCA

Colyer London joined the CCCA in 2017, they took part on the CCCA sustainability awards and won three: ‘excellence in improving air quality’; ‘excellence in waste management & recycling’; and ‘outstanding contribution to environmental sustainability (SMEs)’ awards.

They are currently working with the CCCA on the establishment of a special interest group around air quality with the aim of sharing information and coordinating activities around this important issue in the borough.

It feels good to know that implementing a strategy generates a direct benefit for the world we live in, and our clients love it!’

Sophie Goodall, Group Marketing Manager

What is next

Colyer London believes in being tough on themselves, setting ambitious goals every year to be the best and greenest they can be. Their 2018 – ISO14001 environmental audit will push further to offer an even better level of quality, durability and sustainability through products and processes for the benefit of their clients, staff and the world around them.

CCCA will be working closely with Colyer to look at the carbon emissions of their office in particular to identify further opportunities for energy reduction. They are also investigating switching to a 100% renewable energy source.